Chapter 2 · Encounter 15 of 48
The God Who Sees
Prepare
Israel has been enslaved in Egypt for generations. When God appears to Moses, he reveals something important about his relationship with his people: he has seen their suffering, heard their cries, and knows their distress.
As you read, pay attention to what God says he has observed and what he intends to do.
Read Scripture
Open each passage here without leaving this Encounter.
Exodus 2:23-25
23During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Exodus 3:1-12
Moses and the Burning Bush
1Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
Ponder
- What do God's words to Moses reveal about his awareness of Israel's suffering? Notice the different ways he describes his attention to their circumstances. What picture of God's character emerges?
- God tells Moses that he has seen Israel's suffering and has come down to deliver them. What does this reveal about the relationship between God's compassion and his determination to act? How does his promise to be with Moses (Exodus 3:12) add to the picture?
Exodus 3:12
12And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
Look Again
Return to Exodus 2:24–25 24God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.Exodus 2:24-25
The language of remembering doesn't mean God had forgotten his promise. It signals that he is acting in faithfulness to what he has already committed himself to do.
Read those verses again. Notice how God's compassion and covenant faithfulness belong together.
Practice
Consider someone whose suffering or difficulty might easily go unnoticed.
Take a moment to bring that person before God, remembering the One who sees and hears. If there is a practical way you can offer care or encouragement, take that step today.
Prayer
Thank God that he sees and knows his people. Bring before him a situation of suffering or uncertainty, whether your own or someone else's. Ask him to deepen your trust in his attentive care and make you more sensitive to the needs of others.